Improvement in harvesting-machines



UNITED STATES PATENT OEEICE.

W. Agwoon, or HoosicK EALL'sNEw'YoRK.

IMPROVEMENT IN HARvEsTl-Nc-MACHINES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 23.878, dated May 3, 1859.

' o all lwhom it may concern:

Be it known that I, YV. A. Wood, of Hoosick Falls, in the count-y of Rensselaer and State of New York,-have invented certain new andv useful Improvements in the delivery apparatus of Harvesting-Machines, which l term a swathing-machine;77 and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact d'escription of the same, reference being 'had to the accompanying drawings, making a part of this specification, in which- Figure 1 represents atop view of aplatform upon which the cut grain falls, and showing the series of carrying-belts in place. Fig. 2 represents a top view of a similar plat-form, with a modified arrangement ot' the belts for vei'e'cting thesamaohject. Figsand 4 represent vertical cross-sections through the platform and conveying apparatus.

Similarletters of reference, Where they occur .in the several figures, denote like parts of the apparatus in 'all of them. 4

Carrying-belts `have been used in conveying grain from the platform of a harvesting-machine.; but where so used the belts have all been of uniform length, or the platform 'has been rectangular, which of course implies the use of belts of uniformlengths.

' My invention ,consists in theapplication of a series of carrying-belts to an oblique delivery, and which implies the use of belts of variable lengths, inasmuch as the line ofdelivery is not parallel to or at Aright angles with the front or grain side of the platform; or,`in other words, my invention consists in conveying cut grain from the platform oi' a harvesting-ma chine by a system or series of endless belts combinedwith a platform having at least one i oblique side, or by a system or series of belts o'f varying' lengths to efect an oblique deliv ery of the grain. n

To enable others skilled inthe art to make and use myinvention, I will proceed to describe the same with reference to the drawings.

A represents a platform with tive sides, in which the vside 1 is placed next to the cutting apparatus, andthe side 2 is the delivery side. Over the top of this platform, and around rollers or drums at the sides 2 3 thereof, pass a series of carrying-belts, tra, &c. These belts do not'travel in a right line, but pass behind pullies c c, where their parallelism with the front of the platform is changed; and from thence Ithey run in an oblique direction to thedelivery edge 2, pass' around the roller or drum there, andreturn under the platform to the opposite side, 3, and so on. Ihe platform stands at an inclination from front to rear, (Ito 4,) as shown neath the belts inclined ribs c, as shown in Fig. 4, are placed in front ot' said belts, which raise up the straw and prevent it from getting lunder them. Y

B is a shield at the frame end ot' the platform, which may be' a simple piece of bent'wire that will catch and partially retain the butts of the stalks as they are carried along by the belts while the heads continue to move along, and thus the bundle or gavel is turned around until it is parallel with the oblique delivery 'side 2, whereitdrops O onto the ground bythe continued motion of the belts. In Fig. 2 the same oblique delivery is attained by the series of belts; but in this -case the pulleys c are moved to the delivery side and set upedgewise, which, in effect, would be the same'as cutting up the drum or roller of Fig. 1 into secr tions-one for each belt. This modification admits of the belts moving in a right line, instead ot' a partially oblique one; but they must be of variable lengths, so as to come out to the line of the oblique or deliveryside.

It is obvious that an 4oblique rear delivery may be effected bythe same system of belts of variable lengths, or any delivery when the delivery side is not parallel to or at right angles with the line of cuttersor the receiving side of the platform; and it isimmaterialto my invention what the general form of the platform may be, whether four, as in Fig. .2 or tive sided, as in Fig. 1. It may be ofa trapezoidal or rhomboidal form but so long as the deliv ery side is oblique to the receiving side of the platform, and the grain is carried by a Series ot' two or more belts, I should consider it as involving my invention.

The belts may be driven from any of the moving parts of the harvester, and their mo'- l y tion graduated to thequalitv of 'the cron.

The motion nmybecontinuous orintermittent, Elfeeting :in oblique delivery of the cui: just as the delivery may be preferred, all of grain from the platform where it; falls by a, which is well known to meclianieans and need series of carrying-belts 0f different; lengths, not be more ilmn mentioned. substantially as described.

Having,` Llius fully described the nature and object; o't' my invention, what I claim therein :is new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent,

W. A. WOOD. Witnesses:

LEONARD KING, 

